1. Technical Field
This invention relates generally to devices for dispensing chemicals, and more particularly to a new and improved device for dispensing a caked composition into a liquid.
2. Background Information
Many advantages accompany point-of-use preparation of solutions from a concentrated supply. Instead of shipping containers of prepared solution, the supplier ships a solid composition and the user prepares the solution as needed. Shipping bulk and expense decrease while handling convenience and safety increase, and appropriate dispensing equipment simplifies solution preparation to insure an ample supply when needed with little user effort.
Commercial dishwashing applications provide a typical example. They employ a concentrated soap cake at the point of use which is dispensed into water by water jets spraying against and eroding the cake. In this manner, a desired quantity of soap solution is produced when needed with all the advantages of point-of-use preparation. However, the equipment used for dispensing the soap cake, or other caked compositions, often suffers from certain drawbacks that need improvement.
Soap cake, for example, is typically mounted in an enclosure, sprayed with hot water, and then replenished periodically. This often involves significant time and inconvenience in handling and mounting the cake, and thus it is desirable to have a new and improved device that alleviates this concern--one that facilitates handling and mounting of a caked composition to be dispensed.
Once mounted within the enclosure, jets of water spray against the cake to erode the composition, and this requires adequate pressure regulation to control the rate of cake erosion. Furthermore, the spray is not uniform and it strikes the cake at various angles, both of these factors resulting in varying erosion rates along the cake surface. Thus, the spray both dispenses the composition in varying concentrations and eventually causes the cake to crumble as some areas erode more quickly. Therefore, it is desirable to have an improved device that foregoes the need for pressure regulation while dispensing the composition more evenly from the cake, to provide a more uniform concentration and alleviate crumbling.
In addition, placement of the cake in an enclosure for spraying often hides it from view. Thus, in order to determine when to replenish the cake, a user must either time the period over which the cake has been sprayed or stop the jets periodically and open the enclosure to view the cake. Doing so involves more time and inconvenience, and, consequently, it is desirable to have a device that facilitates this determination.